Copywriting for marketing campaigns – are you pen-wielding in Wonderland?

Let’s dive down the rabbit hole of dental copywriting and focus on one of the main problem areas in any marketing campaign – what to write to capture your readers’ attention.

First things first, what are you trying to achieve?

If you’re not writing with a clear objective, you run the risk of writing contradictory nonsense that will lose you potential patients at your practice. Every marketing campaign you create must have an end goal to give it purpose, your copy must encourage a response that will achieve that purpose. For example, if the main objective for your marketing campaign is to increase implant treatment uptake and your content veers off topic to say, ‘removable dentures are also available at a fraction of the cost’, your message is contradicting your objective. Instead, craft concise copy on that specific treatment with a clear call to action on how you want the reader to respond to your writing:

“Are you conscious of missing teeth?

Dental implants can transform your quality of life by appearing and functioning like natural teeth!

Call us on_______ for further information or to book a consultation.”

Here, you’ve posed a potential issue your reader might face, provided them with a clear solution and given them a call to action in just three concise sentences!

Further to a lack of purpose in your copy, dental jargon can kill a marketing campaign stone dead if it’s not pitched to the right level of knowledge for your target audience. Remove yourself from the ‘mad-hatter’ role where you write what makes sense to you (and only you) and place yourself in your patients’ shoes. Your patients need to be at the heart of the content you create, with a clear focus on what will benefit them.

What not to say…

“State-of-the-art Digital Impression System now available!”

As a patient at your practice, I would be thinking, ‘Great…what’s that got to do with me?’ I wouldn’t know what a digital impression system was, let alone be excited at the prospect of utilising your practice’s new technology. On the other hand, going into overdrive about the bells and whistles of how this technology works is not exactly going to evoke that ‘ooh-ahhh’ reaction from your patient either. You need to talk about how it’s going to improve their experience, you could focus on how the system means they will no longer have to face sticky, uncomfortable and manual impressions that leave that unpleasant aftertaste. This helps you achieve a higher level of engagement, as your patients will understand this new technology is for their benefit, rather than just the practice’s.

Less can be more

Time is precious so give your patients as much information as is necessary in as few words as possible. Think about how much attention your patient would likely pay to your particular piece of copy and adjust your information accordingly. For example, if you’re writing for a poster, your average patient might only glance at it. You will have only a few seconds to engage with them, so a bold, concise message is a must. Whereas, if you are writing a PR piece for your local newspaper, you can afford to give more detail to fit in with the reader’s attention span.

If you remember your objectives, make sense of dental jargon and consider where your copy is going you should reach and engage with more of your target audience. If you’re still not confident that your marketing copy is up to scratch then contact the Practice Marketing Team on 01691 684151 for advice and further support.